Woman Arrested After Damaging Candelabras in Rome's Pantheon

The incident occurs just months after tourists tried to break into the Colosseum.

At this point, tales of unruly visitors damaging centuries-old, historical sites across the world are all too familiar (we’re looking at you, selfie-taker who smashed an 18th-century statue of St. Michael in Lisbon), but usually the incidents are written off as an accident—or just some really poor judgment. This time, however, a Romanian woman is set to appear in a Rome court after purposely destroying two 18th-century candelabras in the Pantheon, one of the city’s greatest, and most precious, tourist attractions.

According to The Local, the 39-year-old woman allegedly walked into the ancient church and proceeded to throw the wooden candelabras on the ground. She smashed one of the ornaments with her fist, causing it to break into numerous pieces before attempting to destroy the other one, the Telegraph reports, but was prevented by onsite janitors and later arrested. When asked why she chose to commit the act of vandalism, the woman was quoted as stating “I don’t know why I did it.” She has been charged with aggravated damage to objects of cultural significance.

Such incidents are a long-standing menace in Rome and elsewhere in Italy, with authorities constantly coming up with new ways to prevent its ancient buildings suffering further damage. The Colosseum, for example, may soon have a “no-go zone” around it after a slew of badly behaved tourists wreaked havoc (on January 14, two Brazilian tourists attempted to scale the gate and break into the millennia-old building after hours), and there are even talks to ban tour buses from the city center. In fact, the country already has serious penalties in place for tourists who steal or damage artifacts: An American who visited the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence had to pay damages after breaking off the finger of a 600-year old statue. Meanwhile, the Spanish Steps had to undergo serious renovations in 2016 to repair damage caused by heavy foot traffic, graffiti, and copious amounts of litter.

This latest debacle at the Pantheon has occurred as Dario Franceschini, Italy’s Culture Minister, demands harsher punishments for those who vandalize important heritage sites, including significant jail time. Perhaps it will make visitors think twice next time before, say, stealing a cobblestone in Rome or carving their initials into the walls of the Colosseum.